Is this a good video storage solution?

[ClickHere2Surf.com]

My PC is my VCR so I have around 150 GB of TV recordings and wanted to fond a storage solution so I dont have to keep buying bigger hard drives, I decided to get the new Sony DVP-CX995V 400 DVD changer/player which can hold nearly 4 terabytes of data if filled with dual layer disk and costs only $350, spending that much on a hard drive would barely get me 400GB, a 10th the capacity of the DVD changer. Also the videos are much safer in the changer since it cant crash and ruined all 400 DVDs at once like a hard drive can do by crashing.

I have mine on pre order (I didn't want last year's 400 DVD changer since I've read the menus are very hard to navigate) and it will ship as soon as it's available.

I don't see any other solution that could get anywhere near 4 TB for anything under $5000, with this I get it for $350 (and $0.30 or so per 4.7GB I use if I use single layer discs, the dual layers are way too expensive).

Do you think this is a good solution to store my videos? I'm sure I won't regret getting it.

[NooNoo]

Question: How long will it take you to watch 4 tb of tv? Why do you need to archive that much? And what's the matter with your beloved tape drive you were using to do this?

[InTheWayBoy]

Zing! For video storage...or more specifically, for what you are wanting to do that looks like a good setup. The only thing I would be worrying about is the navigation of such a beast. But maybe the unit has some nice cataloging feature, and a menu? That would be cool. That, and transportation and mobility of it...sure you can empty it and the reload, but that is a pain.

Just thought of this too...are all the recordings already in DVD format? Cause that could take a while to convert 150GB of compressed video to MPEG2...good luck!

[slgrieb]

Checked out the price of dual layer media? If you don't have to have the maximum possible storage, you can save a bunch o'bucks with single layer.

[ClickHere2Surf.com]

Question: How long will it take you to watch 4 tb of tv? Why do you need to archive that much? And what's the matter with your beloved tape drive you were using to do this?

I have an nvidia chipset motherboard and the nvidia controller won't let me use my tape drive, which is why I never did use it for this since having my nvidia mobo which was my first and last nvidia product (this is only one of the trillions of problems it's giving me).

Also, I'm starting to have more and more videos and with the cost of DVDs going down it's cheaper and easier to forward through commercials (programs that normally support fast forwarding videos like ATI File player can't do it from tapes due to the slower access time).

I'm well aware my 150 GBs (once stripped of ads and converted to DVD format) will barely be 5% (2.5% if I use dual layer DVDs) of this machine's storage capacity, but that's the beauty of it, I won't have to worry about running out of storage for years.

I am planning on using single layer DVDs since even those will need only 20-25 of the 400 slots, I may however use a dual layer DVD in order to fit my entire MP3 collection on one DVD so that it won't have to change discs (causing pauses between tracks) when I play music on it (if I filled with with dual layer discs, it could hold over 1,500,000 MP3s!).

[confus-ed]

Question: How long will it take you to watch 4 tb of tv?

.. question: how many vhs tapes/dvd's have you got ? ... 400 doesn't sound so many to me ! ... Here's the specs of what clickhere is looking at.

However if he holds out a bit, I'm sure he can find 'the same' but with divx or such capabability - then using clickhere's own reasoning against him (as its all he listens to ! Lol )

..use a dual layer DVD in order to fit my entire MP3 collection on one DVD ..

(so apply the same idea to movie compression ! )

& then you can definately 'reasonably' ask how long it might take to watch 'em all.. ... however $400 seems a 'current bargain' to me, considering you wouldn't need any tech knowledge to just 'stick em in' !

[ClickHere2Surf.com]

VHS!? Whew, you're quite a while back in time there, I have all my videos on my PC, I would never even biother doing this if they were on VHS, they're not even worth watching to me since they're too complicated.

I can fit 7 hours of TV recoring per single layer DVD (by removing commercials), probably 12+ on a dual layer, as I said my entire video collection which are years of TV recordings using nearly 150GB oin my PC would use around 5% of this machine's capacity, so I'd have tons of space for years to come.

[Ferrit]

[QUOTE=ClickHere2Surf.com]I have an nvidia chipset motherboard and the nvidia controller won't let me use my tape drive, which is why I never did use it for this since having my nvidia mobo which was my first and last nvidia product (this is only one of the trillions of problems it's giving me).

You must be buying awfully bad nvidia motherboards cause I build and sell them alot and they are incerdibly stable and fast

Easily better then most VIA with the exception of the KT-600 and 800

[ClickHere2Surf.com]

The major problems I have are related to my tape drive and TV card, which most PCs dont have which explains why others might not have these extremely annoying issues.

[Ferrit]

TV cards are pretty normal
Tape drives are a little weird for the average home user

[icemantx]

Sorry to jump in here late but did you see that they have been delayed until later this summer and the price has jumped to $799 on the CX995V!!

I have been waiting since March for this darn thing to be released at the juicy $400 price. Now they are gonna ream all of us and we are gonna have to pay big to enjoy one.

Where did you preorder yours from? I'd like to jump on that list as well.

thanks,

ice

[confus-ed]

Hi Icemantx welcome to WD forums.

Can't answer your question, but I just popped up to say there's an earlier model which also takes 400 disks (the main selling point to me) & here's a review of the sony DVP-CX985V. Which I found as low as $250